Three persons, identified as students of Community Secondary School, Atani, in Ogbaru Local government area have drowned in the River Niger.
DAILY POST gathered that the students who were five in number, were returning home in a canoe after the closure of schools as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, when their canoe capsized as a result of turbulence on the sea.
The news of the death of the students was corroborated by the spokesperson of Anambra Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Mr Edwin Okadigbo.
He said, “We received a distress call on 23/03/2020 at about 18:00hrs, following a distress call. NSCDC OGBARU Divisional office was alerted that three students of Community secondary school, Atani capsized and were declared missing while paddling canoe on River Niger to their house.”
Okadigbo said preliminary Investigation revealed the three students on their way to Ochuche in Ogbaru LGA of Anambra state were children of one Mr Chukwuemeka of Urum-Etiti, Anam in Anambra West but residing at Ochuche.
He gave the cause of the incident as turbulence on the Niger River following the heavy downpour of March 23 2020.
He added, “Two out of the five students that were in the canoe, however, managed to survive the capsizing. Efforts are being intensified at recovering the missing three.”
DAILY POST